“Life is a mixture of the absurd, the comic and the disastrous.” —Eleanor Antin

Today’s ART21 Exclusive features Eleanor Antin discussing her use of paper dolls to create politically charged sculptures and videos. “I thought that I was finished working with paper dolls and was on to other things until those idiotic Republican debates and that insane list of characters,” says Antin of Theater of the Absurd (2016).

Antin made numerous works with paper dolls in the 1970s, including The Nurse and the Hijackers (1977). The absurdly comedic video depicts a group of ecological terrorists attempting to convince oil-producing nations to help save the planet. The artist’s inclusion of paper dolls depicting deceased friends, such a Ree Morton and Elizabeth Murray, allows for reflection on her own mortality.

ART21 Exclusive is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; 21c Museum Hotel, and by individual contributors.

As a producer and director, Ian Forster creates documentary content for Art21’s various digital and broadcast programs. Since joining the organization in 2009, he has worked on four seasons of Art in the Twenty-First Century and the Peabody Award-winning film William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible. Additionally, he has overseen the digital series Extended Play since 2012, producing over 100 short artist portraits. Forster created the online video series Artist to Artist in 2013, which has since featured artists in conversation with their peers at international biennials in Italy, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.